Giant Box Fun plus a lesson from a first time parent.

Recently our hot water heater went out and had to be replaced.  When the plumber finished installing the new heater, he asked me if I wanted him to break down the box it came in and haul it out to the garbage.  Seeing the great potential in this giant box, I of course said no way!  Eliana thought the box was pretty neat.  The plumber cut it open in such a way that it basically had a door to get inside almost like a little house or a phone booth.  Eliana's top game to play with it was hide and seek.  Usually when we play this game, Eliana asks me to count and then goes and hides, almost always in the same spot over and over again.  True to form, Eliana wanted to play hide and seek with the box.  She would have me count in the living room then run and hide in the box ... every single time.  I would count to ten then come in the kitchen and act like I couldn't find her.  The whole time she would be giggling inside the box.  If I asked a question out loud like "Is Eliana under the table?", usually she would respond "No," and then giggle.  What an unexpected present our plumber brought us!

Another activity we did with the box was painting.  It made for a great big canvas, so I just threw a tarp under the whole box and let Eliana start painting away wherever she wanted.  Eliana was wearing her painting shirt, so it didn't matter if she got messy.  However, she was pretty wild with her paint brush and got some on my shirt.  David asked, "Is this paint washable?"  Having purchased the bottle of paint because it was super cheap, I didn't actually know.  So I quickly checked the bottle and discovered that it "cleaned with soap and water" aka, not very washable.  (It also means after you do wash your kid with soap and water, it is really really hard to get the blue paint out of the tub).  First time mom mistake.  Always check the bottle before purchasing to make sure the paint (or markers, etc) are washable!  Because I guarantee that your toddler is not going to only paint what you deam ok. 

After painting the box for a while, Eliana wanted to paint some of her rocks too.

Cutie!